This is another case of me being completely unaware that the book I was reading was turned into a movie. Thankfully, many of the amazing participants in WWW Wednesday let me know and I was able to grab this from the library to enjoy as a mid-week break from school. Oh, and I totally cried. It’s a good thing my husband was at work when I finished this.

Things I Thought Were Awesome

The casting. Lemmon and Azaria were both amazing. I can’t help think of Azaria from his role in Friends when he played Phoebe’s physicist boyfriend, but I still liked him in this. He even sounded a bit like Albom which was a nice touch. Lemmon was a great pick for Morrie and I think he really brought the character to life. It was very close to what I pictured when listening to the book.

Changes That Didn’t Really Bother Me

Mitch working. In the book, there’s a newspaper strike going on while he’s visiting Morrie so he’s not working and things are slow. Getting to see Morrie isn’t a scheduling conflict and Mitch has a lot of time to think about the lessons Morrie is teaching him. I think having him busy with work built a lot of suspense and helped with Mitch’s plot line which wasn’t present in the book.

Cover image via Goodreads

Things That Were Taken Out and I’m Still Wondering Why

Visiting Morrie’s grave. I thought this was how the movie was going to end. Morrie wanted Mitch to visit his grave and keep the conversation going, keep talking to him. In the book, Mitch talks about doing this and it made for a good ending. I wonder why the movie didn’t end the same.

Things That Changed Too Much

Mitch and Janine’s relationship. This one really upset me. Mitch and Janine were happily married in the book and I hated the implication that he was a bad boyfriend or husband. I felt Janine was a good support for Mitch in the book and viewing her any other way was hard for me.

The focus on Mitch. The book doesn’t focus much on Mitch. The story is about Morrie and how he’s dying and the lessons he wants to impart before he does. Switching the focus to Mitch and how he as changed by Morrie made for a good movie, but it wasn’t true to the book.

Like I said, this made me cry. It was well done and I grew to care a lot about Mitch and Morrie’s characters. I didn’t think such a short book could make a good movie, but I was wrong. Reader, have you seen the Tuesdays with Morriemovie? What did you think?

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

Currently reading: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is still my ebook and I’m really enjoying this during my lunch breaks. It jumps around a bit more than I like, but the short snippets of the story make for good lunchtime reading.I started a new audiobook, The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. I’ve read a few Meltzer books before so I’m pretty sure of what I’m getting into with this one. It’s fun to see how similar an author’s books can be and yet how different. This is a long audio so I suspect this will be on here for a while.
I also started a new physical book, My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen. I love memoirs and memoirs about travel and religious understanding are always top in my book. Especially when my favorite non-fiction writer, A.J. Jacobs, has a blurb on the cover.

Recently finished: I finished Rules of Civility by Amor Towles on Friday and really enjoyed it. The characters were very real people and Towles writes amazing little details about them. My book club met to discuss this on Monday so I’ll have a summary of that up next week. You can take a look at my review, posted earlier this week, in the meantime.As I expected, I flew through Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. It was short and sweet and I understand why this one is consistently on the bestseller lists. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much time and money went into Mitch visiting Morrie for all of those weeks but I think what both men got out of it was more than worth what was put into it. I posted a review earlier this week so please check it out.

Reading Next: I got my next book club pick, which is going to be Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews for Haruf’s novels but this will be my first. I’ll pick it up as soon as I finish Cohen’s book.

Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

I felt like a bad Detroiter when I’d say I hadn’t read this classic. Albom is a sports and literary staple in our town and not having read one of his biggest books felt bad. I even met the guy and hadn’t read it. I wanted a nice, short audiobook and this seemed to be just what the doctor ordered so I decided to cross it off my ‘eventually’ list and read it.

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying of ALS – or motor neurone disease – Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final ‘class’: lessons in how to live.

Having read The Last Lecture, I thought this book would be pretty similar and on some levels, it was. I liked Mitch’s approach to his time with Morrie. Even as the disease took his body, Mitch knew his old friend’s mind was still sharp and capable of answering some of the tough questions Mitch had. I think Morrie was well poised to answer these questions. His life’s work had led him to analyze human interactions and behavior so he was able to look at his own behavior and history and identify what he needed to pass on.

I think Mitch portrayed Morrie in a very realistic way. I’m not sure if any of it was altered to make Morrie more likable, but I’d like to think none of it was. I remember professors from my own undergrad that I’d love to reconnect with and hear more about them and their lives. I’m thinking of one Spanish professor in particular. If something had happened to her and she was sick, I’d like to think I’d fly to see her. Maybe I would, but I’m not Mitch and I can’t say for sure what I’d do. But I remember her like Morrie: full of wisdom and always willing to share.

Morrie was easily my favorite character. It’s hard to see someone you love in pain and I appreciated that Morrie didn’t try to hide his pain from Mitch. He was straightforward with how and where he was hurting and while he asked for help, he never asked for pity. He wanted to remember loving his family, not being pitied by them and I think that’s a very noble, though difficult, thing to strive for.

In February, I’m going to fly to California to celebrate my Grandpa’s 100th birthday. While he hasn’t been diagnosed with anything specific, old age is getting to him and he frequently gets confused and disoriented. Like Mitch, I live far away from my grandpa and because of the distance, I lost contact with him for a long time. Unlike Mitch, it’s hard to establish it when dementia is setting in. I was jealous of what Mitch and Morrie were able to share. I wish I could do something similar with my grandfather.

As much as the life lessons were useful and heartfelt, I loved hearing Mitch describe Morrie and how he became so animated when Mitch would walk into the house. Knowing that when things were that dire and that painful, seeing an old friend could animate Morrie so much was heartwarming.

There wasn’t a part of this book I really disliked. If anything, it was the 20th Anniversary note at the end of my recording, but that’s only because it felt tacked on (which, of course, it was).

The audiobook was narrated by Mitch Albom. He narrates many of his own books so I wasn’t at all surprised. I think it added a lot because toward the end, he was able to imitate Morrie’s labored speech. It wasn’t disrespectful in any way, but it gave a good indication of how hard it was for Morrie to get out the words.

Morrie preached love. He loved his family, his wife, his job, and his life. It’s hard not to remember the things that make you happy when you read this book. I think it can be a good reminder. It’s very lucky for Mitch and Morrie that a newspaper strike and a national television spot timed up and worked out perfectly for this to happen. I’m glad it did. I can see why this book continues to be popular long after its publication.

Writer’s Takeaway: Books are so frequently about famous people: queens, presidents, athletes, actors, etc. Sometimes, you just need a book about a retired teacher. I like the Morrie wasn’t someone big and famous talking about life and dishing out advice. He really lived a great life and wanted to share everything he could. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t know him from Adam before this book. Now, everyone knows Morrie and the great lessons he imparted.

There’s nothing to dislike about this book. It’s short, sweet, and heartfelt. Five out of Five Stars.

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

Currently reading: I’m getting close to half-way in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison but a few busy weeks at work is likely going to make for slow going. I will endure!I’m really enjoying Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and I think I’ll finish it this week, time permitting. It’s hard to put my finger on what makes his writing so great but this story is amazing.
I started a new audiobook and it’s a quick one! I’m embarrassed to admit I’m a Detroiter who’s never read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. I know this is going to be a quick one so I expect it will be on my finished list next week. Fingers crossed!

Recently finished: I finished Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks on Friday during a run. I wish it had ended without an epilogue! I think the story was really good but the epilogue ruined it. I wrote a review and posted it Monday if you want to check out some more of my feelings on the book.

Reading Next: I had another book club selection here, but I might not be going to book club now. I know, I’m a terrible person having missed the last three for this group! I’ve had good reasons each time, I promise. In my defense, it’s an annual meet-the-players night for the Detroit Red Wings. I’ve gone the last two years and loved it and I think I’m going to have to go again in the new arena! TBD still, so I’m saying I don’t know what I’ll read next.

Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

Currently reading: We didn’t make any progress on Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs during our trip this weekend. We had a few things on our minds and used the time to talk instead. There are worse things in this world!
Not much with The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler because I’ve been out-of-town so much but I’m still really enjoying the book and I hope to keep moving on it!
I started another comedian memoir because I needed something light to read over my vacation. I grabbed You’re Not Doing It Right by Michael Ian Black from my shelves. I enjoyed his commentary on the VH1 I Love The… series and I watched Wet Hot American Summer last summer and remembered how funny he was. The book is a great delivery of his dry humor and I’m really liking it.
I also just started The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson. I’m glad Bryson seems as fascinated by the English language as I am! Sometimes I find myself wondering how much money a linguist could make because it’s so fun!

Recentlyfinished: I finished Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling last Thursday. It was a super quick and fun read. I’m super excited for the movie to come out so I can watch it again from home this time! I’ll likely post a review tomorrow.
I also finished The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom on Thursday, it was a big day for me! This was a good audiobook and I really liked that Albom narrated it himself. I posted my review on Monday so please go check it out and see why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Reading Next: I know I’ve been saying it for weeks but I picked up Night Soldiers by Alan Furst from the library last night! I’m going to start in on this one as soon as I finish Black’s book, which I hope is really soon!

Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Mitch Albom is from Detroit and he does a lot of book signings in my area as a result. A good friend of mine and I went to hear him speak a few years ago and I got a copy of his latest (at the time) signed. I hate taking signed books out of my apartment, so using an audio version of this book made the most sense to me. It was a nice, quick read.

The First Phone Call from Heaven tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out. An allegory about the power of belief–and a page-turner that will touch your soul–Albom’s masterful storytelling has never been so moving and unexpected.

I’ve read and listened to a few of Albom’s books before and this seems right in line with his style. He’s going to talk about Christianity without hitting you over the head with it and he’s also going to talk about doubting religion and that strengthening belief. This book was hard to read only because my Christian side wanted to believe and my reader side wanted to think ‘Magical Realism’ but following a character who doubted so strongly made me doubt, too. I wasn’t sure what to think until the end, which I’ll avoid talking about. I liked the ride, though. The breadth of characters covered the topic well and gave me someone to commiserate with each step of the way.

I liked that there were characters who were strong believers, skeptics, and people who went through all stages of belief and disbelief along the way. I think that’s a fair representation of how humanity would respond to such a miracle. I’ve often wondered if a great prophet came to Earth, would we believe him or her? Would we discredit this person or recognize that he/she is the one we’ve been waiting for? I think Albom must have wondered something similar when he wrote this book. Some believed it immediately, dropping everything and moving to Coldwater while the miracle was happening. Others came out of anger and a lot kept at arms distance and waited for proof that the whole thing was real. I liked how the people of Coldwater went through this as well, even those receiving the calls. It seemed real and made me wonder where I would fall if calls like that really happened.

Jack was my favorite character. I thought the way he dealt with his son’s calls was really believable. At first he wants to keep them to himself and not call attention to himself, which I could see a police officer wanting to do. I liked seeing his internal struggle to tell his ex-wife and how he told Tess to commiserate with her. I think he really struggled with believing Robby was really talking to him and thought that if he said it out loud, he would have to believe it.

I think I would have trouble believing something as wondrous as phone calls from Heaven at first. I think I would be like Elias or Jack and think it was someone trying to trick me for a while, testing the miracle to see if it stood on its own two feet before I could buy in completely. Even Pastor Warren was skeptical and Father Carole called in his boss to make a decision. This helped me feel like it was OK to doubt but to question and not discredit something that could be a miracle.

Me and Mitch Albom, 2013.

I love Sully’s story. It was so moving and complicated and I thought Albom did a great job of balancing all of the conflicting feelings inside Sully. I was scared for a second that he was going to give him a romantic relationship with Liz but I think the way that ended was for the best. Sully was looking out for his son most of all and on his journey to protect the boy, he ended up neglecting him a bit. He needed to refocus his priorities and Liz helped him do this.

I didn’t’ like Amy’s character very much. She was really self-focused and I felt like she was taking advantage of Katherine the whole book. Even when she was taken off the story, she stayed with Katherine because she had no where else she wanted to be. She didn’t even seem to care when her fiance left her and didn’t try to hard to contact him. She seemed unimportant to the plot and just fulfilled Albom’s desire to have a reporter character in the story.

Albom narrated the audiobook himself which I really liked. He gave the characters the voices he wrote them with. There were a few instances of him using audio effects like knocking and thumping to enhance the story which I really liked. He narrated well but that can be expected from a radioman. I hope he does his other audiobooks as well.

All of the characters struggled with belief. Even Catherine, who believed immediately and spread the word, struggled with others not believing her and how to handle those who doubted her. The characters were very representative of Christians that I’ve met. Some believe with all of their hearts and struggle to see how others can live without the faith they have. Others used to believe but have fallen away from God for one reason or another. Others don’t believe and many are somewhere in the middle. The book brought up something incredible that effected people’s faith in different ways and showed how no one Christian is exactly like another and how things can shake or build faith depending on how they’re perceived.

Writer’s Takeaway: I thought Albom had almost too many characters. I struggled a bit to keep Jack and Jeff straight and I couldn’t tell you the names of any of the TV people besides Amy. I’m glad he didn’t include all of the people receiving phone calls but I thought he could have focused on just a few less to help the reader keep more of them straight.

This was a solid book that helped me see how strong my faith is. Four out of Five Stars.

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

Currently reading: My husband and I were finally able to listen to some of Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs. We had four hours in the car and got through some of it. This is a really long book so we might be at this one for a while. We have next weekend to get through a bit more.
I’ve been making steady progress on The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler during lunch and doctor’s appointments. I’ll keep it up at this pace as much as I can. Lunch has also transformed itself into a study time for me which might take over a bit.
I started reading Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling. It’s great reading this now because it’s moving super fast and I can pick it up and put it down easily as school makes other demands on my time. I should finish it soon.
I also started The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom on audio. Albom narrates the story which is a fun twist. He loves basing his books here in Michigan (where he’s also from) which makes fun reading for me!

Recentlyfinished: I knocked out Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling really fast. Celebrity memoirs tend to be fast reads and I enjoyed getting through this one fast. My review will come up tomorrow so look out for that.
My review of Away by Amy Bloom posted yesterday. I liked the book but was disappointed by the ending. I thought it seemed like the main character gave up at the end and that disappointed me.

This seems to be about a weekly feature. Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on any of these!

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. This book seemed to be sneaking at the edge of my periphery. It’s been on my Goodreads recommendations and when it popped up again on my Book Calendar, I gave in and added it. I’m surprised to see it’s less than 100 pages! The story is told through the actual letters between Hanff and a second-hand bookseller in London. It somewhat reminds me of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

In One Person by John Irving. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might know that I have a love for everything John Irving. I wrote about it in a post last week. I can’t help myself when I see one of his books so this being on the bargain shelf at Barnes & Nobel made my day. The story follows the struggles of a bi-sexual man in search of inner meaning.

The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom. This is the book I had Albom sign when Nicole and I met him last week. It’s his latest and (at time of writing) #4 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list. In a small town in Northern Michigan, the phone starts ringing and those on the other end are calling from Heaven. Is it a hoax or the real thing? I can’t wait to find out!

The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch. This book is yet another Goodreads First Reads win. Finch tells the story of a young Yale graduate who looks to escape the disappointments of his life by taking a year at Oxford. As a student, I studied abroad in England so this struck home with me and I’m excited to give it a read.

So that’s it for now. Do I have any winners? Any duds? Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear!

I’ve developed this obsession with getting autographed books. It might be better defined as I love meeting published authors, but when I meet them I have to buy their book and have them sign it. So yeah, slight obsession.

Nicole and I went to meet Mitch Albom at a local Barnes and Noble last Tuesday. I found the event on Goodreads and I was more than a little excited about it. If you’re unfamiliar, Mitch Albom is from Detroit and write for the Detroit Free Press. He’s the author of bestsellers such as Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People you Meet in Heaven, and the most recent The First Phone Call From Heaven. This last one is the reason for his current book tour. It will debut at #1 on the NYT Bestseller list this week (or so he says).

We got to the event and purchased our copies at which point we were assigned to Group C. Mitch gave a few opening comments when he arrived and I was really impressed by him. He’s home for Thanksgiving so is doing some signings in the area which I thought was very sweet. His nephews were somewhere in the store, though I didn’t meet them. He spoke about the book and how his mother influenced him. She suffered a stroke that left her unable to talk and Mitch wanted to write about the power of hearing a person’s voice which brought about the idea of those who have passed away calling back to Earth. Let’s say I’m more than excited to read this.

We milled around for an hour and a half (I only bought two more books!) before we were called and we got in line. At that point we only waited about a half hour before we got to meet Mitch Albom! We were both nervous balls of energy, but he had such a calming personality that we weren’t intimidated at all.

I took the time to ask him the question I’ve decided I’ll ask all authors. “I want to be where you are. What can I do to get there?” Mitch took the time to give me a really good answer. After saying I wanted to be where he is, he offered to get up and let me take a seat but I argued my signature was not as sought after. He asked me where I was in life and I told him I worked full-time and have now finished two manuscripts. I loved his answer; He told me to read.

Nicole’s excited face. Please note security detail again.

He said to read things I didn’t like, things I didn’t write about people I didn’t like. When we write, we need to create characters and those characters might be people we don’t like. When you read something outside of your comfort zone, you learn a new voice and that’s a voice you can use in a character that is distinctly different from yourself. I spoke in my post last Tuesday about how my first draft characters are always a lot like me. This advice seemed really timely. When I spoke to my husband upon arriving at home, he agreed that he sees too much of me in my female characters. I’ve done alright with the male characters, but reading books about women different from myself will help me be able to write distinct feminine voices.

I really appreciated the time Mitch took to answer my question when 200 other people wanted a minute of his time. A huge thanks to the people at Barnes and Noble who made the event run smoothly. I hope that one day I can take that seat from Mitch and be able to proudly sit there, knowing I’ve accomplished my dream.